ic Zombie vs Zombie

[Spacefurry]

The door clicked open and Chimera smiled in satisfaction. She slipped into the morgue and carefully closed the door behind her. No one would know she was there at this rate and that was fine with her she thought as she turned around to survey the room.

 

She looked at the empty table and froze, her eyes darted around. The head was on the floor not too far from the discarded sheet. Dirty prints littered the area around the examination table, leading back to a broken window.

Chimera frowned and carefully approached the head. Picking it up she eyed it a moment, looking for any sign of movement. Satisfied it was lifeless she set it back on the floor. She crouched and regarded the prints, boots from the look of the shape and tread marks. Standing up she moved to the broken window and looked out.

It was unlikely she’d luck out and see them loading the body into an unmarked white van like some b-movie cliché. Pulling out her phone she took a couple pictures of the clearer boot prints around the window. She glanced back around at the table and sighed.

“Someone needs to talk to the building manager about the lapse of security.”

She looked back out the window.

“Jamie is going to be mad. I was suppose to bring back dinner this time.”

Techno-organic matter spread over the lower half of her face and a pair of wings grew out of her back. Chimera leapt and her wings spread to lift her up enough to clear the soft earth near the broken window. Silver-grey spread over her feet as she landed a short distance away and the wings shrank. She had been practicing with the wings when she could ever since that surprised her that one time. Every time she thought she had a handle on the symbiote, it would do something new and have her scrambling to figure out how to control it. Maybe someday she get it to stop eating things.

She looked around for the trail the thieves took to and from the scene of the crime. As she did, she also dialed the non-emergency police number to report the break in.

Edited June 12, 2023 by Spacefurry

[Supercape]

GM

 

Boots.... Boots on the ground. Or rather, the footprints. The burgular had been effective but not subtle. And he (or she) had to have dragged a corpse. Corpses, Chimera knew, where heavier than they looked. Perhaps a superhero could have lifted the corpse straight over head, and danced away as if the thing was as light as a feather...

 

But no. The corpse had clearly been dragged, with some effort, by a mere mortal. And that mean a trial. Not easy to follow, but not hard either. Chimera could follow a twisting trial through back alleys, through the discarded and forgotten paths of Freedom City. 

 

To a run down area and a broken biulding, its bricks laying scattered around a dump of a garden. The only habitable place was the bottom level, below ground level. Rusty Iron stairs lay down to an illuminated lair from which loud reggae music and strange (and illicit) aroma's wafted. 

 

This had all the hallmarks of a Yardie lair. And Yardies, everyone knew, carried guns, knives and machetes....

 

 

 

 

[Spacefurry]

The trail wasn’t hard to follow. It looked like a single individual had dragged the headless body alone.

“Why would someone go through all this trouble for a body?”

Chimera wondered out loud as she followed the trail through another back alley.

“Was there something that was missed in the autopsy? Maybe something in the lab work that was still being processed?”

She shook her head. Idle speculation wasn’t going to help. When she reached the metal steps leading down to loud music and questionable smells she made a face under the mask. For a moment she contemplated just calling at he police with another anonymous tip.

But something itched inside her and before she realized it she was halfway down the rusty steps. With each step the stairs creaked a little and another wave of musical pressure washed over her and the smell leaked through the techno-organic mask.

‘Why am I doing this?’

She thought even as she placed her hand on the door. Her nose wrinkled and she screwed up her courage as she tested the door.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The door rattled. Not the jarring clangs that would be testament to an intruder. The light touch of Chimera was like a feather, gently seeking out the lock, the resistance, the pull, the tension. 

 

A rattle. 

 

The door was not locked. 

 

Presumably no thug would be stupid enough to walk in a bunch of smoking Yardies ready to smoke you. 

 

The music was loud to the point of being obnoxious, although it did have a fine groove; drum, bass, mumbled and rumbled lyrics that resonated well. Over the notes and beats a few voices could be heard. Laughs, sometimes. But was that due to a comedic situation or a comedic cigarette?

 

There was no doubt that the headless corpse had been dragged in here. It would be hard to imagine doing so without anybody noticing. It wasn't really a comedy situation, was it?

 

The fumes of heavy drug use grew stronger by the minute. 

 

The Yardies were smoking some serious stuff...

[Spacefurry]

The door wasn’t locked and apparently no one noticed the door rattle over the music… and other distractions. Chimera steeled herself then hesitated for a moment, realizing silver-grey techno-organic tendrils twisted around her limbs and chest but she was still wearing her blouse and skirt. At least she remembered to ditch her lab coat after class ended.

‘Too late to turn back now.’

She thought and firmly opened the door, bracing herself for what awaited on the other side. She winced at the heavy thrumming of music, and had to physically keep from coughing uncontrollably from the stench of illicit substances. Finally she managed to focus and look around the interior.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Creaaaaaak!

 

This was loud enough to wake a comatose pig. 

 

And the Yardies heard it. Five of them, smoking roll ups, playing cards. Guns and Machetes on the table. Reggae coming out of an impressive speaker system, synched to a wide screen TV plaing a live concert. 

 

they heard it, but when it came to reactions they were as fast a soporific Glacier with arthritis. 

 

They looked around. 

 

They were wearing shorts, sandals, open shirts, and dark sunglasses. Tattoo's adorned various body parts, often showing skulls and what looked like arcane symbology. Plenty of regular guns and regular knives. A few had scars. Several had gold teeth. 

 

Eyebrows were raised, hands started to reach for weapons. 

 

"Hoo d'ell be yooo? Gettin oota 'ere or be trubble!"

 

A Jamaican accent? But laced with a particular dialect - like a thieves cant. 

Edited June 13, 2023 by Supercape

[Spacefurry]

Chimera winced at the loudness of the door. 

‘So much for being sneaky.’

She thought ironically then looked around at the Yardies as they stared back at her in some confusion. When one of them finally spoke up she tilted her head to catch what he said. Between the music and the accent I t told her a moment to figure out what he had said.

“I’m not looking for trouble.”

She said, pulling herself up to her full height. All 5’ 6” of it…

“I’m here for the body.”

Chimera tried to sound authoritative, when at least she tried. She still wasn’t fully confident in her hero persona.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Machete's were drawn. Clearly one girl was not worth expending bullets on. 

 

Maybe they weren't quite with it. Pupils dilated, swaying bodies. 

 

No, one would have to say they were pretty spaced out. But that didn't stop them tapping a machete on an open palm, or grinning like a dog who had found a nest of rabbits. 

 

"Boddy? 'Ere be no body, not being not boddy but ya. Oo ya bein, cum da 'ere 'n askin Kwestyon like dat. Ya know oo we are? We be being Machete Max gang. We not be knowing nuthin boot boddy."

 

Another piped up. 

 

"Oo told you bat boddy? U be earing frem sum Street Snitch, oo be telling u bat boddy?"

 

Another rolled his eyes and the stupidity. It looked like even sober these were not the brightest bulbs on the Christmas Tree. 

 

But they were pretty large, in a lean, snake like way. And the machetes did look pretty sharp. 

[Spacefurry]

“I have the distinction impression you know exactly what body I’m talking about.”

Chimera looked around at the men. It was obvious they weren’t going to cooperate. The symbiote around her forearms and hands shifted and stiffened in anticipation. The tips of her fingers were claws now, but she balled her hands into fists.

She had a couple advantages; she was stronger, faster, armored, and you know… not half-stoned. She just had to subdue them, locate the body and call the authorities. Easy peasy. She hoped.

“I didn’t want to hurt you. But if you leave me no choice.”

Raising her fists to fight she eyed each of them. If she rushed in, they’d surround her. If she let one of them start, the rest would follow and she might be able to bottleneck them.

Extending one hand she made the universal ‘Come at me’ gesture.

[Supercape]

GM

 

FIve men with machetes and guns. On youngster. 

 

She might have a strange metal on her hands. But they looked like they had seen stranger. Maybe the stranger things they had seen were hallucinations from some psychoactive substance. But still. 

 

What confused them was that anyone would hold their ground. They weren't cowered, not exactly, but a primal instinct kept them from being too bold. Some primal instinct that said hold on... this ain't right...

 

They laughed. They shuffled forward an inch. Maybe two. They tapped their machetes against their thigh, the palm of their hand, and in one case, over a set of four golden teeth. 

 

"You be know wa' we gonna do?"

 

"Chop chop! Big meal gangsta styl' fri wit' onion ring and spicy spicy!"

 

"Makin zombi' out of dem bones, fewl..."

 

"Whi yanow run? Hoppy hoppy lil' bunny, go run!"

 

"Yathink we scared? We no evan need bang bang... jess' slicy slicy thra de dicey!"

[Spacefurry]

They way they were mangling the English language would have had her freshman year ENG 101 professor driving a screwdriver into his ears, she thought with a smirk. Damn jerk kept trying to look down the blouse of every girl in his class.

Chimera shook her head. She wasn’t so much worried about the machetes, but if they smartened up and decided to use the pistols it was going to be a slightly different fight. She had to get them to act without using the two or three brain cells they had left between them. She needed to-

Chimera sighed.

She needed to channel her inner Jamie.

 

“What’s the matter boys? Don’t think you can handle one little lady. Or are the…”

‘Crap, what did they just call themselves again?’

“The… Max… Machete… gang?”

That didn’t sound right, but she didn’t really care.

“You, all, a bunch of little, ah, babies?”

That was bad. So bad. Thank god Jamie wasn’t actually there to hear it.

[Spacefurry]

Maybe they were under the influence of enough drugs that her insult actually touched a nerve, or maybe they were just getting tired of her. Either way one of the Yardies decide to step up to the challenge, as it were.

The bigger man gave her what she was sure was suppose to be a nasty smirk and raised a chipped, though still very sharp looking, machete over his head to swing down on her. He wasn’t expecting her speed. As the chop came down it met empty air, the gang member didn’t have time to contemplate this as Chimera’s fist struck up to connect with his chin. The force of the blow snapped his head back, his feet actually leaving the floor before he landed on his back with a resounding thud.

Chimera stood posed for a moment, her fist still in the air, the larger man laid out before her, his eyes rolled back and his jaw skewed in an unnatural way.

“Oops.”

Che pulled his fist back and resumed a digging stance.

“Guess I hit hit a little harder than I meant to. So? Who’s next.”

She taunted with a little more confidence.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Yardies stopped, taking a half shuffle step back. THey looked at each other, and the knocked out thug on the floor. 

 

Perhaps, on another day, they would have fled. But they all wanted to look brave infront of the others. And perhaps the drugs had dulled their judgement. 

 

"I cuttin' yata fillet' stakes! Ya com mess wit' Machete gang, yer be eatin' machete!"

 

"Yeah!" said the other three thugs. 

 

There seemed to be an unspoken debate as to who would charge first, each not quite sure if they wanted to get their lights knocked out. 

 

"Les' get girl, com then, all for I, and I for all!"

 

Whatever mutilated battle cry this was, it seemed to work. All stepped forward to charge with screams and yells, and proceeded to get in the way of each other. However, in the battle of leverage and strained sandals on the floor, two of them squeezed through. Swish! Swish!

 

The Machetes swung wildly, and against the odds one of them actually was fast and crazy enough to strike Chimera!

[Spacefurry]

Chimera was still fairly inexperienced when it came to hero-ing (she wasn’t about to mess up her chances in college), and when she did she tried to avoid groups of crooks.

They came at her nearly altogether, luckily she planned for that and only two of the came within arm’s reach. They flailed at her with their blades and she barely had to shift her stance for one to swing wide. But even as she felt good about that a second Yardie already in mid swing at her.

It was flash in the comer of her vision and in her mind she could see it sinking into the flesh of her arm. The machete spraying blood as it’s yanked free. She could imagine the searing jolt of pain from it.

This imagery must have spook her, because as she reacted she could feel the symbiote wanting to… do, something? Chimera could feel the itch under her skin covered by the mask of alien matter. She pushed it back though, she didn’t have the time for some new surprise.

The machete caught her raised elbow and its sharp edge skated along the hardened techno-organic material, down towards her hand. She tried to grab for the edged blade when it reached her hand, to wrench it out of the man’s grip.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The inexperience showed this time - but one learns from failure, not success!

 

The machete slipped out of her grasp, the ragged edge dragging across her palm. By luck rather than accident the Yardie holding the machete flipped the direction of the machete as it escaped, and ran it across not only her hand but up the length of her arm. 

 

The only consolation was his accidental agility was also accidentaly clumsy - he shoved the other Yardie to one side. 

 

"Crik mastyle mon! Be givvin' us all chop chop tim' we be gangly, no' Errol Flynn...!"

 

The other two Yardies paused a moment to clap the fluke swordsmanship of the Yardie who sliced Chimera. 

 

They all smiled. 

 

"Tree' cheeringz fada Machete Max gang!"

[Spacefurry]

Chimera cursed as the machete slipped from her fingers and slid back up her arm. The blade slashed through her sleeve and found the unprotected flesh of her bicep.

Chimera let out a cry of surprise and pain as the shock hit. She staggered for a moment as she grit her teeth and glared at the men, too busy congratulating their lucky strike. It had bit deep and hurt like hell, but the pain helped clear her head enough that she could still focus. She just need a second to catch her breath.

She could feel the symbiote stirring as blood ran down her arm, highlighting the minute imperfections of the techno-organic surfaces and staining her torn sleeve.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Be see now, nobodi mess wit' Machete brother, we be carvin em up like spaghetti doin' da waltz! Hehehehe!"

 

The other three Yardies looked at their crazed "Brother"

 

"Wat da hell kinda speekin be dat? Spaghetti for da Mafia!"

 

"Exac! We carve up Mafia like dey spaghetti!"

 

"Sound flip stoopid, dat watya soondin, mon. Smokin too much da spicy spicy frazzlestick!"

 

"Wot a frazzlestick? Ya makin up da lippyspeak on da spot!"

 

"So be you, so be I, so be we. All be makin lippyspeak on da slippyslop jizzleboom!"

 

The four Yardies looked at each other, each with a growing realisation that - even by their high standards - they were talking gibberish that nobody could understand.

 

Perhaps this lead to a slightly clearing of the mind. Slower know, they spread out and carefully encircled Chimera. 

 

"Now you feeling splitty chop, girli, you telling us wat fool sent ya. Den mebbe you keep all yer fingers, all yer toes!"

[Spacefurry]

As she stood there, recovering from the last blow she was expecting them to press the advantage. But it appeared she was giving them too much credit. They started bickering and rambling amongst themselves. 

They came to their senses just in time for Chimera to catch her breath. She debated taking a moment to heal but be used against it. Four of the Yardies were surrounding her and she did not like those odds. Her arm was still sore so she changed her stance.

“If you want souvenir, I’m afraid the gift shop is closed. But I’m happy to inform you that the dance hall is open.”

Chimera spun, stepped and the sound of her skirt tearing as she swung a kick at one of the gang members was immediately followed by the sound of her foot connecting with his waist. Aiming for center mass was always a good strategy.

She followed the spin, albeit a little clumsily, and can to stand with her latest target behind her.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Yardie flew across the room, colliding with the opposite wall. His machete spun with him, and embedded itself just above his head, cutting off a few dreadlocks as it did. 

 

"Wat ya doin' man, kickin mebelli lik dat' bigtime hurtin' I be. I dink' I be passin' art..."

 

With the wise words of reflection, his head sagged and he slumped to the floor. 

 

The three remaining Yardies paused, machetes still in hand. Chimera was bleeding, true, but two of them were on the floor. They were bold, but something told them to stop and usin' 'eadbox fer sissec. I mean, ahem, something told them o stop and think. 

 

"Wha yer like bigman wit' big messels, girly. Never seen nut' like dat. What ya juicin' on... yer com 'ere to makin da deal?"

 

They looked at eachother. 

 

"You on roidies? Boost? Zoom?"

 

"We can be mekkin deal. Machete Max aalweyz good fer da makin' dem deal!"

[Spacefurry]

It seemed the trio left standing were pooling their collective functioning brain cells. It was understandable that they didn’t know who she was, she wasn’t exactly an A-list hero. She had met a few other heroes here and there. She was more focused on her studies and didn’t exactly do interviews. She kinda preferred it that way.

Chimera kept her guard up, watching them as she rolled the question over in her mind. Boost and Zoom were highly illegal and her only exposure to them was briefly in a classroom setting. The thought of anything like one of those substances mixing with the symbiote wasn’t something she wanted to consider.

“I’m not here about drugs or anything like that.”

She tried not to sound too disgusted. Were it can be seen, the techno-organic tendrils growing out of her skin shifted and twisted around her arms and legs. The blood was already slowing, but the wound on her arm was still an ugly gash.

“I’m just here about the body that was taken from the morgue earlier this evening.”

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Bodi? We ain't nobodi?"

 

"Nobodi, nobodi, ain't nobodi!"

 

"We ain't seeing da bodi dat Machete Max brought through 'ere, day's for sure!"

 

The other two nodded emphatically. 

 

"Dat's right! You can't prove we see da bodi we saw!"

 

"Prove it!"

 

The three standing Yardies seemed to think they had successfully outwitted Chimera with their advanced legal reasoning. 

 

"'E 'ave our backhides we speak!" said one, putting finger to his lips. 

 

"Yah be yah! Bigtime freaki! Brotha wit' no head! Shazam, lykit cam off witda Machete from Max 'imself! Neva seen no corpse like dat. 'It badtime waytogah!"

 

More nods. 

 

"Bes' we don't toungewag bootit... bes' we don't even tink bootit..." added another, sadly. 

 

"Tink aboot wat?" asked another with a big grin. 

 

The other two scratched their heads until one got it. 

 

"Ah! Ya dasrigh' tink aboot wat?"

 

They high fived, congratulating themselves with their advanced psychotherapeutic reasoning. 

Edited June 21, 2023 by Supercape

[Spacefurry]

Chimera blinked at the trio. By the time they had finished their rather ‘impressive’ mental and verbal gymnastics, she was standing there rubbing the covered bridge of her nose.

“Okay, okay.”

Maybe she was coming at this from the wrong angle.

“So you didn’t see the body-“

She started, trying to think.

“So then, have you seen… Max?”

She asked unsurely.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The high fives stopped, the smiles waned, the shuffling off feet began. 

 

"Max be dem leader of Machete Max gangnam style"

 

"...op! op! op op op! Machete Max style!" rapped the other two. 

 

"Max bring de corpse without dem 'edd. He makin us zombi army!"

 

"Bodi become zombi!"

 

"Yah. Bigstyle yah! We can't lose now! Cut dowm em Mafia boys!"

 

"Tripleyah!" screamed the jubilant trio. 

 

"Max be gone. Took dem car and dem body. Lucky you. Nobody can be messin' with Machete Max! Not before, and defo not now. Now, 'e got zombi army!"

[Spacefurry]

There was no way she had heard that right…

Chimera stared at the three men dumbfounded. She was about to tell them they were crazy, that zombies weren’t real, but promptly remembered what had happened earlier, and why she was there in the first place. She decide to let that particular point slide and focused on the problem at hand.

“So… say someone wanted to find Max.”

The tested.

“Where would he have taken this hypothetical body to make this… zombie army.”

Saying it out loud was just weird. Well she had dealt with a few strange things over the last few years. But, zombie army was going to rate a 9.0 on her ‘weird shit-o-meter’…

 

Right under whatever it was she caught Professor Scotts doing with that TA in the conference room that one time.

 

Chimera resisted a shudder.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"De Graveyard. Lantern Hill...."

 

Latern Hill, the graveyard of Freedom City. Nobody had been buried there for 80 years. Maybe they ran out of space. Maybe the pernicious tales of spookiness had permeated the gestalt consciousness to such a degree that nobody wanted to bury anyone there. Would you want to come back as a ghost? Would you want your relative to?

 

If Machete Max was going to create Zombies, Latern Hill would be a good place to start. 

 

The three Yardies shuddered. 

 

"Zombi armi all dubblegood and yah. Bu' still...."

 

"...Zombi iz sombi..."

 

"...And zombi is dubblebad spookah!"

 

Another three shudderes. 

 

One of them pointed their Machete and Chimera. "Ya no tell Max boot nuthin, we firgit yah heer. Ya be on ya way now, and we say double nuthin aboot it..."

 

The other two nodded empathically.